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How to Clean Your Rain Jacket

Updated
A person standing outside in the rain, smiling, while wearing a black Patagonia rain coat with the hood on.
Photo: Sarah Kobos
Eve O'Neill

By Eve O'Neill

Quality rain gear keeps you dry while you’re roaming in fresh spring rains or on misty fall days.

If your raincoat or pants are stained or dirty, or if they’re starting to “wet out” (absorbing water instead of shedding it), that doesn’t mean they’re no longer effective.

With a little TLC, your rain gear can look and function like new.

The whole process can be completed in two steps. All you need to do is wash your gear and then reapply a waterproof coating, which can be done in a washing machine. If you have a fabric-lined raincoat, the waterproofing is done by hand using a spray bottle (similar to the way you’d treat a suede or leather jacket).

Three bottles of rain coat cleaning supplies: a bottle of Nikwax TX. Direct Wash-in, TX. Direct Spray-On, and Nikwax Tech Wash.
Photo: Eve O’Neill

A washing machine: It’s best to remove and release dirt, stains, sunscreen, and grime from the fabric before you re-waterproof it. Otherwise you risk trapping these particles in the fabric, which can lessen your rain gear’s breathability.

A rain-gear detergent: Standard laundry detergents, even mild ones like Woolite, can damage your rain gear. That’s because laundry detergent is a surfactant, and it will leave a water-loving (hydrophilic) residue behind on your rain gear, ruining its rain-repelling properties. So you’ll need a wash that’s made specifically for rain gear. A few options exist, but the most widely available is Nikwax Tech Wash.

A DWR wash or spray: After you launder your coat or pants with whatever wash formula you choose, the next step is to wash the item again with a DWR formula that re-waterproofs the fabric. DWR stands for durable water repellent, and it’s the chemical that makes water bead up and slide off your rain gear, instead of soaking right through. Again, Nikwax makes the most widely available DWR wash, TX.Direct.

If your coat has a liner, don’t put your jacket back in the washing machine to waterproof it. Instead, hang the wet jacket up and spray a waterproof coating on the outside by hand. (Nikwax’s DWR coating also comes in a spray bottle.)

This is a three-step process—wash, treat, and dry. If you let your rain gear air-dry, the process will take about 24 hours. If you opt to dry your clothes on low or no-heat tumble dry, it can take a few hours, by putting your gear through two cycles in the washing machine and one cycle in the dryer.

A rain coat spread flat on a table at a laundromat, with three bottles of Nikwax cleaning supplies in the background.
Photo: Eve O’Neill

If there are obvious stains on your jacket, spot treat them with a dab of tech wash. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then buff or rub the stains to loosen them.

A laundromat washing machine being used to wash a rain coat, shown during a washing cycle.
Photo: Eve O’Neill

When you’re using the Tech Wash or other rain-gear-specific product, put no more than two items of rain gear in the washing machine at a time, and then add the recommended amount of cleaner to the detergent dispenser. (Nikwax specifies 3 ounces per load.)

Ketric Cooley-Rieders, a wash technician at Truckee Laundry (which specializes in cleaning and waterproofing ski clothing), said you should “wait three minutes before dropping the tech wash in,” because you want the product to disperse throughout the water in the machine to evenly coat everything. Then set the wash cycle to “normal” so that it spins out as much water as possible.

A bottle of Nikwax TX. Direct Wash-In waterproofing;
Photo: Eve O’Neill

You don’t even have to take your gear out of the washing machine. Just drop the waterproofing formula into the detergent dispenser. Nikwax recommends about 5 ounces of waterproofing formula per two-piece load, depending on how much fabric you will be treating.

You can “drop the waterproofing in right away,” said Cooley-Rieders, instead of waiting like you did for the first wash cycle. But this time, wash the item on a delicate cycle. “A ‘normal’ wash adds an extra spin at the end of the cycle, so it washes out all the waterproofing.” The delicate cycle does not have an extra spin cycle at the end.

If there’s a fleece or fabric liner in your coat or pants, take the item out of the washing machine and hang it up. While your gear is still wet, spray on the waterproofing, holding the bottle about 10 inches away from the clothing to get an even coat. Pay special attention to the back of the shoulders and the cuffs, where the waterproofing most easily rubs off.

Step back and take a look, and if you see any dry spots, go back and spray them again.

Two rain jackets, shown hanging on coat hangers to dry, after having been washed.
Photo: Eve O’Neill

Dry your rain gear according to the instructions on the care label. If you decide to air-dry your gear, it will likely take about 24 hours.

Meet your guide

Eve O'Neill

What I Cover

Eve O'Neill is a former senior staff writer reporting on travel and outdoors at Wirecutter. She can remember the titles on her childhood bookshelf that set her in this direction: Into Thin Air, On The Road, The Call of the Wild. She has always been drawn to ideas about how to relate to, and play in, the wilderness.

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